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Senators Sign Mads Søgaard To Two-Year Deal

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The Senators have agreed with RFA goalie Mads Søgaard on a two-year contract, per a team announcement. It’s a two-way deal in 2024-25 before upgrading to a one-way in 2025-26. It comes in with a $775K cap hit and will pay him $225K in the AHL next season.

Søgaard, 23, made his NHL debut with Ottawa in 2021-22 and has served primarily as their third-string netminder since. The 2019 second-round pick brings his gargantuan 6’7″ frame to the crease, yielding some rather strong numbers on the farm with AHL Belleville last season. He posted a .916 SV% and 2.45 GAA with an 18-9-3 record in 32 appearances, all setting or hovering around career highs.

But while the Dane has shown solid development at the minor league level, he’s yet to succeed with any consistency in his NHL time. Over 24 starts and three relief appearances over the past three seasons, he’s struggled with a .884 SV% and 3.44 GAA, although he’s managed to help keep the Sens in float in front of him nonetheless with a 10-10-3 record. His advanced metrics aren’t pretty, though, as he’s conceded 15.2 goals above the average netminder during his limited run in the Ottawa crease, per Hockey Reference. He particularly struggled in his call-up action this season, limping to a .859 SV% and 4.05 GAA in six appearances with a 1-3-0 record. Søgaard allowed 10.3 goals above expected in just 282 minutes of action, per MoneyPuck, more than backup Anton Forsberg allowed over the course of 30 games.

Sens general manager Steve Staios called this season an “important stepping stone” for Søgaard in the team’s press release, and it’s easy to see why. He won’t start the season on the NHL roster with Forsberg still under contract and Linus Ullmark set to be their new starter after being acquired from the Bruins last month. But he will remain their top call-up option from Belleville should injuries affect either of the two, and they’ll look for him to at least get closer to a league-average save percentage when given a chance.

Søgaard is still under team control for another four seasons. He’ll be an RFA once again when his deal expires in 2026.

Poll: Which Postseason Drought Is Likeliest To End In 2024-25?

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There has not been one team in the NHL unable to make the playoffs during the inception of the salary cap era in 2005-06. The league has experienced unprecedented competition under the new format but there are still several teams who haven’t been able to crack the Stanley Cup playoffs for the last several years. As of right now, the Buffalo Sabres (13), Detroit Red Wings (8), Ottawa Senators (7), and Anaheim Ducks (6) hold the longest current postseason droughts in the league. Which one of these teams has the best odds of ending their postseason drought and returning to the playoffs in 2025?

The odds looked good for Buffalo towards the end of the 2022-23 regular season but the team ultimately finished one point short of the last wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference to the Florida Panthers. The team boosted their defensive core over the summer and had their eyes on contention in 2023-24. Unfortunately, the season did not go as planned for the Sabres and the team finished seven points back of the last playoff spot in the East. The team still has a wealth of young talent either on the team or close to cracking the roster, but the offseason feels a bit misjudged at the outset. With a need to fill out their bottom six, Buffalo brought in Jason Zucker, Ryan McLeod, Sam Lafferty, and Nicolas Aube-Kubel this summer and appear to be running back a similar roster next year with Lindy Ruff back as head coach.

Detroit tied the Washington Capitals for the last wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference for the 2023-24 regular but ultimately lost the tiebreaker on the last day of the regular season. The team took a major step forward in their rebuild after acquiring talents such as Alex DeBrincat, Patrick Kane, and Shayne Gostisbehere who dramatically improved the team’s competitiveness. The Red Wings’ major letdown of the 2023-24 regular season was the defense which gave up the seventh most shots against in the league. Ghostisbehere walked in free agency along with other veterans who were replaced by Cam Talbot, Erik Gustafsson, and Vladimir Tarasenko. Detroit should still be able to score in bunches next year but the team has inarguably failed up to this point this summer in improving their biggest weakness from last season.

It feels that Ottawa has experienced two separate rebuilds over the last seven years with the first coming under the helm of Pierre Dorion and the current iteration led by Steve Staios. The three biggest moves of the Senators’ offseason were acquiring former Vezina winner Linus Ullmark from the Boston Bruins, shipping defenseman Jakob Chychrun to the Capitals for a lackluster return, and prying veteran David Perron from the Red Wings on a two-year deal. Ullmark should serve as a massive upgrade in between the pipes compared to their situation last year but moving on from Chychrun will certainly sting on the blue line. Ottawa finished 14 points out of a playoff spot last season but could be a surprising team with a wealth of talent up front and a consistent netminder.

Lastly, the Ducks register as the least likely of the group to crack their postseason drought as they finished nearly 40 points out of a playoff spot last season. Anaheim brought in forward Robby Fabbri and defenseman Brian Dumoulin via trade this offseason but neither strike as needle-movers to an offense-needy organization. The upcoming season should serve as a reasonable benchmarking year for the Ducks organization as the team looks to graduate several prospects to the NHL level. Anaheim could cause some noise in a weak Pacific Division but their odds of making the playoffs are still low.

Of the four longest current playoff droughts in the NHL — which of these four teams do you think has the best odds to end their drought next season?

Which Postseason Drought Is Likeliest To End In 2024-25?
Detroit Red Wings 54.01% (1,036 votes)
Buffalo Sabres 25.39% (487 votes)
Ottawa Senators 14.86% (285 votes)
Anaheim Ducks 5.74% (110 votes)
Total Votes: 1,918

Ottawa Senators Third Pairing Options

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The Ottawa Senators have been busy this offseason addressing their goaltending situation with the addition of Linus Ullmark and trying to improve their forward depth by signing free agents David Perron, Michael Amadio, and Noah Gregor. The team also shipped out defenseman Jakob Chychrun to the Washington Capitals for fellow defenseman Nick Jensen and a 2026 third-round draft pick. The trade for Jensen was widely panned but will likely improve Ottawa’s overall team defense.

Ottawa has a decent top-four that consists of Jake Sanderson, Thomas Chabot, Artem Zub and the aforementioned Jensen, but the team could run into serious issues as the depth beyond those four is very weak. Frankie Corrado spoke with TSN 1200 this morning and wondered if the Senators need to shop the market for an additional defenseman to address the depth issue behind their top four. Currently, the Senators’ bottom pairing options consist of veteran Travis Hamonic, Jacob Bernard-Docker, and youngster Tyler Kleven, but Corrado wonders if the Senators should explore some potential improvements.

If the Senators want to fill out their bottom pairing internally, it appears that Kleven has the inside track for a role on the left side. The Fargo, North Dakota native was the Senators second-round pick in 2020 and played in nine games last season. While he didn’t put up much offense, he didn’t appear out of place in the NHL. On the right side, Hamonic struggled last season and appeared to be a buyout candidate this summer. It appears Ottawa is content with bringing him back, but at this stage of his career, he is best suited as a seventh defenseman. Bernard-Docker was decent for Ottawa last season but plays a simple game and isn’t particularly strong with the puck on his stick.

If the Senators explore free agency, there isn’t much available that would be a major improvement. Justin Schultz would bring an offensive element to the third pair and could improve the team’s power play but would add to the team’s defensive woes. Kevin Shattenkirk might be the best option for Ottawa on the free agent market as the 35-year-old is still a strong skater and could slot in on a second pair in a pinch. He is stronger defensively than most of the remaining free-agent options and could represent a small upgrade for the Senators.

If Ottawa is to explore the trade market for a defenseman it is unlikely they will want to give up many assets as the team has moved a pile of first-round picks in recent years and have one of the worst farm systems in the NHL. As Corrado suggests on TSN, the Senators might be best to explore a trade to take on an undesirable contract for a defenseman and add an asset in the process. The Senators currently have $3.6MM in cap space and could conceivably add a sizeable cap hit to fill out their third pairing. If this is the route Ottawa takes, there is no shortage of bad contracts that could be had.

Senators Sign Jan Jeník To Two-Way Deal

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The Senators have signed right winger Jan Jeník to a two-way deal, according to a team announcement. The deal carries a $775K cap hit and NHL salary with a $190K AHL salary. Ottawa acquired Jeník’s signing rights – he was an RFA – from Utah in a swap Wednesday that sent forward Egor Sokolov the other way.

Jeník, 24 in September, was selected by the Coyotes in the third round of the 2018 draft out of his native Czechia. After splitting the beginning of the 2018-19 season between the first and second leagues in the Czech pyramid, Jeník arrived stateside midseason to play junior hockey with the OHL’s Hamilton Bulldogs. It would be another season and a half before he made his NHL debut, receiving a brief two-game call-up during the shortened 2020-21 season. He got off to a hot start, scoring in back-to-back games against the Sharks while averaging 12:05 per game.

However, it wasn’t a sign of things to come. Jeník spent much of the next two seasons in the minors, where he produced well with 47 points in 51 games and 23 points in 30 games in the 2021-22 and 2022-23 campaigns with AHL Tucson. It didn’t result in much NHL opportunity, though, as he made only 15 appearances during that time in which he scored twice and added an assist with a -6 rating. That led Jeník to reportedly seek a trade the following summer before eventually relenting and signing a two-way deal to return to Arizona for 2023-24.

Last season again yielded little NHL opportunity for Jeník, limited to one assist and a -1 rating in five games while averaging a paltry 8:23 per contest. His point-per-game production with Tucson also took a hit, decreasing to 0.65 (36 points in 55 games) after putting up 0.92 and 0.77 the prior two years. Now, he officially joins a Senators squad that’s lost some scoring depth this summer, giving him a chance to compete with players like Angus Crookshank, Zack MacEwen and Zack Ostapchuk for a roster spot during training camp. He would require waivers to head to the minors if cut, but he cleared last fall without incident.

Senators Acquire Jan Jeník From Utah

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Utah has traded RFA forward Jan Jeník to the Senators, per a team announcement. Another unsigned RFA, forward Egor Sokolov, is heading to Utah in exchange for Jeník.

Jeník, 24 in September, had been with the Coyotes organization since being drafted in the third round in 2018. He’s never broken into a full-time NHL role, although he does have 22 games of experience over the past four seasons. He’s notched four goals and two assists, and a -4 rating in that time, averaging just 9:51 per game.

The Czech forward has been solid on the farm with AHL Tucson, though, peaking with 47 points in 51 games two years ago. He’s put up top-six numbers since, finishing this season with 16 goals and 36 points in 55 games. The move had been a long time coming – he was seeking trade options as far back as last August – and now gets the fresh start he desires in Ottawa.

Utah acquires a player just a few months older in Sokolov, although he wasn’t drafted until 2020 as an over-age selection in the second round. Like Jeník, he’s posted strong AHL numbers without getting an extended NHL look. He trailed off somewhat this past season, though, scoring 21 goals and 46 points in 71 games. It was his lowest per-game average with AHL Belleville since turning pro four years ago.

Both players need new deals, but they’ll come in as cheap two-way agreements over the next little while. The chances of either making their new teams’ rosters are slim, although Jeník arguably has a better chance with Ottawa’s slimmer forward depth and their need for players on six-figure cap hits.

Senators Sign Matthew Andonovski To Entry-Level Deal

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Senators defense prospect Matthew Andonovski has signed his three-year, entry-level contract, per a team announcement. Financial terms weren’t disclosed.

Andonovski, 19, was picked up by Ottawa in the fifth round of the 2023 draft (140th overall). The left-shot blue liner has spent the last three seasons of the Kitchener Rangers of the Ontario Hockey League, where he’ll presumptively be loaned back to for 2024-25. His 20th birthday isn’t until March 2025, so he’s still too young to be assigned to the AHL. That would defer his ELC for one season, making it go into effect for 2025-26 and expiring after 2027-28.

The Markham, Ontario, native has good size at 6’2″ and 201 lbs and blocks shots with abandon. He’s no stranger to getting involved physically and often crosses the line, as evidenced by his 124 PIMs last season. After going without a goal in 67 games in his draft year, he flashed some offensive upside in 2023-24 with seven tallies, 25 assists and 32 points in 62 games for the Rangers. He also had an astounding +58 rating, which led the entire OHL and led the Rangers by 27.

His NHL debut, if it comes at all, is still a few years away. But last season was a promising step forward for the defender, who’s now secured himself a spot in the Ottawa organization when he presumably turns pro next year.

Senators Sign Shane Pinto To Two-Year Deal

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The Ottawa Senators have signed center Shane Pinto to a two-year, $7.5MM contract. The deal will carry an annual average value of $3.75MM. Pinto went through a tumultuous season last year, missing the first 41 games of the regular season for violating the league’s gambling policy. He eventually signed a contract for the league minimum of $775K on January 19th.

Once he was back in the lineup, the 23-year-old had a strong season, dressing in 41 games and posting nine goals and 18 assists while registering a +9. His underlying numbers were excellent, particularly his possession numbers as he posted a CF% of 53.8% at even-strength.

The Franklin Square, New York native was probably hoping for more stability this offseason but settled on a two-year term which could effectively come with a third year at $5MM as the second year of his deal is reportedly for $5MM (as per CapFriendly).

A former second-round pick (32nd overall) in the 2019 NHL entry draft, Pinto went through a tough contract negotiation with Ottawa last summer before his suspension and is sure to be happy to have a deal done early in July. Ottawa was able to facilitate the deal with Pinto after they sent Mathieu Joseph to the St. Louis Blues (along with a third-round pick), effectively clearing out his $2.95MM cap hit for the next two years.

Pinto has been mainly a third-line center in Ottawa, however, with Joshua Norris injured last season Pinto was elevated in the lineup and played solid minutes as the Senators’ second-line center. Pinto averaged over 18 minutes of ice time per game which was an increase of more than two minutes a night. With the uncertainty of Norris going forward, the Senators have a terrific backup option with Pinto as he has already demonstrated he can be a second-line center in the NHL.

Two-Way Signings: Schueneman, Aspirot, Gaudette, Gambrell, Poolman, Richard, Entwistle

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The first day of NHL free agency saw over $1B spent for the first time in league history. Much of that went to stars across the league, though general managers are also having to focus on building up their farm programs. Here are five smaller names signed on Tuesday. Each of these deals carry a $775K cap hit at the NHL level, unless otherwise specified.

  • The St. Louis Blues have signed defenseman Corey Schueneman to a one-year contract. Schueneman, 28, appeared in 64 games with the Colorado Eagles this season, netting four goals, 22 points, 24 penalty minutes, and a +2. He’s a quick-paced, hard-shooting defender who carries a lot of heft in his frame, even at 5-foot-11. He’s already made his NHL debut, appearing in 31 games with Montreal between 2021 and 2023 and scoring two goals and seven points. Schueneman is likely set for a role on the Springfield Thunderbirds lineup, where he’ll compete for ice time with Blues prospects like Marc-Andre Gaudet and Hunter Skinner.
  • The Calgary Flames have re-signed defender Jonathan Aspirot to a one-year contract. Aspirot, 25, spent 66 games with the Calgary Wranglers last season, scoring a career-high 33 points and adding 80 penalty minutes and a -6. It was Aspirot’s first year in Calgary, after spending four years with the Belleville Senators. He totaled 63 points in 161 games with Belleville, and will now be set to reassume his top-end role with the Wranglers next season.
  • Belleville is due for their own reinforcements, with the Ottawa Senators signing Adam Gaudette to a one-year deal (Twitter link). Gaudette, 27, led the AHL with 44 goals last season, in his pursuit of 71 points across 67 games with the Springfield Thunderbirds. It was a breakout year for Gaudette, after totaling 27 goals and 51 points in 65 games between the Toronto Marlies and Thunderbirds in 2022-23. Gaudette was formerly a top prospect in the NHL, appearing in 220 games across six seasons in the NHL. He’s only managed 27 goals and 70 points in those appearances, though his recent scoring could suggest upside still untapped. The Senators will hope that’s the case, as they position Gaudette for a premier role in the AHL next year.
  • The Columbus Blue Jackets have signed forward Dylan Gambrell to a one-year deal. Gambrell spent all of this seaosn in the minor leagues, playing in 66 games with the Marlies. He managed 14 goals and 36 points – his highest AHL scoring since the 2018-19 season. Gambrell has been based much more in the NHL over the last six seasons, totaling 233 games and 40 points. He’ll be set for a top line role with the Cleveland Monsters, and push for a spot near the bottom of Columbus’ NHL lineup.
  • The Buffalo Sabres have signed defenseman Colton Poolman to a one-year deal (Twitter link). Poolman, 28, has spent the entirety of his four-year pro career in the Flames organization to date. The younger brother of Canucks defenseman Tucker Poolman had three goals and three assists in 66 games for the AHL’s Calgary Wranglers last season.
  • The Philadelphia Flyers have signed forward Anthony Richard to a two-year deal (Twitter link). Richard spent 59 games with the Providence Bruins last year, netting 25 goals and 55 points. It was a small step down for Richard, after netting 30 goals and 67 points last year. He’s also totaled 24 NHL games since 2018, scoring eight points. Richard should be set for a starring role with the Lehigh Valley Phantoms, with a chance to push for the NHL roster.
  • The Florida Panthers signed MacKenzie Entwistle to a one-year deal. Entwistle, 24, has spent most of the last three seasons on the Chicago Blackhawks lineup, though he’s managed just 33 points in 188 games. He’ll now join the reigning Stanley Cup champions, though his two-way deal suggests he’ll have to work his way up to the NHL from an AHL start.

Blues Acquire Radek Faksa, Mathieu Joseph

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The Blues have acquired center Radek Faksa from the Stars for future considerations, the team announced. In a separate trade with the Senators, they’ve also picked up winger Mathieu Joseph and a 2025 third-round pick with future considerations heading to Ottawa in return.

With the deals, St. Louis essentially makes a pair of slightly overpriced free-agent signings and receives a third-round pick for their trouble. Faksa is signed for next season at a $3.25MM cap hit, while Joseph is signed for two more years at a $2.95MM cap hit. No salary was retained in the deals.

Both should slot into everyday bottom-six roles with the Blues, while Joseph could have some mobility up to the second line. He’s coming off a strong season in a depth role for Ottawa, recording 11 goals and 35 points in 72 games. He was more than serviceable for what he cost, but the Sens desperately needed to open up cap space with Shane Pinto in need of a new contract (although he does remain a trade candidate, per The Fourth Period’s Anthony Di Marco) and a handful of other forward spots still to fill.

The problem for Ottawa is that they’ll now need to replace Joseph’s production, not something they can confidently do for less than what he costs. After parting ways with him and picking up Michael Amadio and David Perron in free agency yesterday, they likely still need a top-nine forward in order to boast a playoff-caliber offense next season, something they may not be able to afford based on how much a new deal for Pinto costs them. They have $7.35MM in projected cap space remaining after the Joseph trade, per CapFriendly.

Dallas, too, needed to open up some cap space for an RFA in need of a new deal – defenseman Thomas Harley. The Stars rebuilt their blue line on the fly yesterday after losing Jani Hakanpää and Chris Tanev and buying out Ryan Suter, bringing in Mathew Dumba, Ilya Lyubushkin and Brendan Smith while also giving a new deal to Nils Lundkvist, who was briefly a UFA after not receiving a qualifying offer. They now have almost $8MM in space after the move, opening enough space to re-sign Harley and land a more economical replacement for Faksa on the open market among the few names that are left.

Faksa’s cap hit wasn’t an outright albatross for Dallas, and he remains a premier fourth-line center with a good defensive game, receiving Selke votes four times in his career. But over $3MM annually was a tad tough to swallow for a player who’s only had double-digit goals once in the past four years and is coming off a 19-point campaign in 74 games last season. His usage had slipped, averaging 12:31 per game last season – his lowest since his rookie year.

He’s a similarly-priced and more defensively-oriented replacement in St. Louis for Kevin Hayes, who they traded to the Penguins over the weekend. Over his first 638 NHL games, all in Dallas, Faksa had 89 goals and 200 points with a -11 rating.

Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.

Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli was first to report that Faksa was headed to the Blues.
Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman was first to report the Blues were acquiring Joseph.
TSN’s Chris Johnston was first to report the Senators were sending a draft pick to the Blues in exchange for future considerations.

Minor Free Agent Signings: Atlantic Division

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With over 180 deals signed during the first day of free agency yesterday, some smaller names may have gotten lost in the shuffle. Here’s a list of names that have inked two-way deals with Atlantic Division clubs since the market opened yesterday, per CapFriendly. Some of these may have been included in our main coverage yesterday, while others went under the radar. All contracts carry the league-minimum $775K cap hit unless stated otherwise). Those listed here are likely to begin 2024-25 with each team’s AHL affiliate.

Boston Bruins

F Cole Koepke (one year)
D Jordan Oesterle (two years)
D Billy Sweezey (two years)
F Riley Tufte (one year)
F Jeffrey Viel (one year)

Buffalo Sabres

F Joshua Dunne (two years)
F Mason Jobst (one year)
F Brett Murray (one year)
D Jack Rathbone (one year)
G Felix Sandström (one year)

Detroit Red Wings

F Sheldon Dries (two years)
F Joe Snively (one year)

Florida Panthers

F Rasmus Asplund (one year)

Montreal Canadiens

none

Ottawa Senators

D Jeremy Davies (one year)
F Hayden Hodgson (one year)
F Garrett Pilon (two years)
D Filip Roos (one year)

Tampa Bay Lightning

D Derrick Pouliot (one year)
D Steven Santini (one year)
F Jesse Ylönen (one year)

Toronto Maple Leafs

none

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